MANILA, PHILIPPINES — As smartphones became essential for everyone, poetry found a new home in the digital space. Poems that sprout and thrive are on Tumblr, Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram. Through the popularity of social media as a form of distribution, a new crop of poets emerged, revolutionizing how we digest, consume, and perceive the art form, and making poetry more accessible and appealing to the younger generation. The social media poets, dubbed “Instapoets,” have achieved such huge fanbases that they’ve found their way from the Instagram squares to the pages of bestselling books.
Their powerful work tackles themes from friendship, racism, romantic love, immigration, self-love, and mental health to gender identity and politics. And while it is not too late to catch up on Fully Booked‘s 2024 Reading Challenge to read one poetry book for April, this is also the time to acquaint yourself with these poets who have made the leap from Instagram screens to bookshelves.
Here are eight “Instapoets” to follow and check out their published books:
Rupi Kaur
Tagged as the “Queen of Instapoets,” Rupi Kaur became well-known for her trademark short poems and sketches, encompassing themes often deemed taboo for women: violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity. Her debut book, milk and honey (2014) became a New York Times Bestseller and has been translated into 42 languages. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg for the Indian-Canadian author. A talented performer, Rupi currently hosts a show on Amazon Prime called Rupi Kaur Live and is now gracing the stage with her live performances across the globe, performing poetry combined with stand-up comedy.
Morgan Harper Nichols
Conquering the platform is Georgia-based artist and writer Morgan Harper Nichols with around two million followers on Instagram. To say that Morgan’s content is refreshing is an understatement; her art work is filled with colors, flowers, and city skylines, her words centered around the question of “how can we create connection?” It’s no wonder her work successfully crossed over to print with bestselling books like All Along You Were Blooming (2020), and You Are Only Just Beginning (2023). She was 30 years old when she found out she had autism and ADHD, informing the unique way she approaches art, music, and poetry. She is currently pursuing an MFA in the Interdisciplinary Media Arts program at Lindenwood University.
Lang Leav
No “Instapoet” list is complete without Lang Leav, who started her foray into poetry in 2012, when she posted short poems, sometimes accompanied by drawings, on Tumblr and Instagram. She quickly rose to fame. Now Lang Leav is an international bestselling author with five poetry collections and two novels under her belt. Her most recent one being Others Were Emeralds (2023), a literary fictional novel loosely based from the harrowing experiences of Lang Leav and her parents as they fled the Khmer Rouge to seek refuge in the predominantly migrant town of Cabramatta. She now resides and writes from New Zealand in a house by the sea with her partner and fellow poet, Michael Faudet.
Atticus
Atticus is the masked-slash-anonymous hero of “Instapoetry.” His reason for keeping his identity a secret? He wants to remind himself to always write what he feels, and not what he thinks he should feel. His short verses encompassing themes of love, relationships and adventures have successfully leaped from the Instagram squares to the pristine pages of publishing, with instant bestsellers like Love Her Wild, The Dark Between Stars (2018),and The Truth About Magic. Atticus’ celebrity fan base includes Emma Roberts and supermodel Karlie Kloss. Galore Magazine called Atticus “The Most Tattooed Poet in the World,” a nod to his cult-like following.
Nikita Gill
If you have a fondness for fairytales, Greek myths, and their modern retellings, then you’re likely already following Nikita Gill, an Irish-Indian poet, playwright, and illustrator. Nikita shares that she envisions speaking to her younger self when writing poetry, embracing themes of self-love and the empowerment of womanhood. Besides having a huge following online (500,000 Instagram followers), Nikita is the author of eight volumes of poetry, and a novel entitled The Girl and the Goddess (2020), which was released in 2020 and is currently being adapted for TV by Lena Headey.
Caroline Kaufman
Caroline Kaufman, also known as @poeticpoison on Instagram, is one of the youngest “Instapoets.” She started writing when she was 12 years old to cope with her depression and anxiety. Before she knew it, she gained 200,000 followers on Instagram, and became one of the most popular poets on the platform. Her book, Light Filters In (2018), a poetry collection about not fitting in, endlessly Googling “how to be happy,” and ultimately figuring out who you are, is an international bestseller.
Marisa B. Crane
Marisa Crane’s poems have been circulating on Instagram and Pinterest for years, recognizable by their clean text or vintage typewriter-inspired images. Some of her finest verses include powerful commentary on the discrimination against the LGBT community. She has contributed to Literary Hub, Joyland, TriQuarterly, and other publications. Last year, Marisa successfully released her debut novel, I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself (2023), about queer survival in a dystopian world, published by Catapult, New York.
Amanda Torroni
Hailing from South Carolina, the tea capital of the world, Amanda Torroni is a poet, an independent writer, and a freelance editor. Her fame as a poet took off after she self-published four poetry books, garnered an online following, and showcased her work in various venues in the U.S. She is the author of Stargazing at Noon, a collection of poems tackling themes of intimacy, distance, the body, self-doubt, nostalgia, and love, and finding beautiful patterns in the material of life.
Browse Fully Booked’s Poetry Collection here. For more bookish news and recommendations, visit https://www.fullybookedonline.com/blog.
